My Take on the Winter Olympics

So I was looking back at all the posts I've done for this blog ad I've realized something, there is absolutely nothing in here about the Winter Olympics. As someone who loves sports and loves the Olympics it was hard for me not to say anything about it and it was sort of a conscious effort. Coming up to the Olympics I was excited to watch the snowboarding and the figure skating. I was sort of following the trials for the US Olympic team and was happy to see 2 very young skaters included on the team, Jason Brown and Polina Edmunds. 

Polina is only 15!! Her senior debut was what qualified
her for the US Olympic team.

Jason is 19 and only started his senior career in 2013!

So that was what I was excited about. New talent getting a chance to perform on the biggest stage possible. Then I started hearing about the problems with Sochi. The Olympic Village not being completed, the project running over budget, the courses were deemed dangerous and so on and so on. There were just a whole set of problems that could have been avoided. And there was also the political problems about Russia and homosexuals. Sigh, it was like everything was going wrong that could go wrong. It seemed like the only good thing was that Russia got more snow than expected this year. 

When the games started I was in the middle of classes and the hysteria that is moving to a new city so I was following it online. When I heard Shaun White pulled out of his second event I was sort of skeptical about it but figured he knew what he was doing, whatevs. Then I watched the qualifying round for a women's snowboarding event and I didn't want to watch anymore. It was kind of obvious that the competitors were a bit afraid of the course because it was just so fast. They were playing it extremely safe and not going for the big airs and obviously doing everything they could so slow their speed on the course. To top it off, Shaun White didn't medal in his event which made me think what would have happened if he didn't change his schedule to late in the game and I'm sure he was thinking about that too.

After that I simply decided to just wait for the results to see how everything turned out. Then I was hearing about the problems the speed skaters were having with their new suits. I remember speed skating was something the Americans used to dominate with Apolo Ohno and now that he's done it seems like there's no one there to take his place which is a bit sad. 

Another thing I was excited about was the Jamaican bobsleigh team. I knew that they wouldn't be in a position to medal or anything but it was something new for the Winter Olympics. That was ruined by the controversy around that course.There was a nasty crash with the Canadian men team and the Brazilian women team and that just added another sign that the complex and Sochi on a whole was not ready for the Olympics. Now there are all these comparisons to The Hunger Games which I'm sure is great publicity for the franchise but not so much for the commentators they're comparing it to, Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. Sigh, it all seems like the entire games was a joke for everyone except the competitors. Of course they're taking it seriously, it's their big chance to perform on such a big platform. I'm not even going to start on the interviews NBC did with Bode Miller where the kept talking about his brother that died.

So yea, this is my take on the Winter Olympics. Yea it's a bit harsh but isn't the Olympics supposed to be the biggest platform in these sports? Why is it that the Winter Olympics aren't taken as seriously as the Summer Olympics? I am so disappointed in the the games this time around after Vancouver did such a good job in my opinion. 

Anyways, I feel better now that I got all of that out there. Now I can go cook my Sunday food :)

Carla :)

Finally a bit of normalcy

It's the weekend!!! It's been a short but busy week full of ups and downs as usual. I finally got hot plate so I can cook for myself now (not that I still don't want my aunt's Sunday food). 

I had to throw out all my old food that I had bought before I changed rooms since it was just sitting there for 2 weeks but finally I'm starting to settle in fully now. I haven't used it yet since I still had food from my aunt left back but I'll most likely use it tomorrow :)

I've decided on a weekly schedule finally. Since I have Wednesday's off that has become laundry and errand day. Weekends are as usual "do as much work as I can" days and cleaning is in there as well. I also want to try exercising on mornings before class since I have afternoon classes. Developing a schedule has taken me 4 weeks, FOUR WHOLE WEEKS!! It's been weird and stressful just doing things as they need to be done instead of knowing when I have time for everything. I just have to remember when I planned to do everything and that would be great. 

I hate to be one of "those" people but the weather is AWESOME right now. It's like 12 degrees (Celsius because I have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit) and it feels spectacular. I can actually walk around without constantly thinking its so damn cold. Everything seems to look a whole lot nicer when its not so cold as well.

This week I also got a new laptop! :D It's the HP Pavilion which is a touch screen laptop which I find quite fetching. 

I'm still figuring some stuff out about it which is sometimes frustrating but Windows 8.1 seems to be pretty cool.

I called up one of the hairdressers I found and she seems really nice and pleasant. She just doesn't use the products that my hairdresser used to use at home so that's a bit of a problem. Luckily she said if its a problem I can just find the products I'm used to and bring them so that's a option. That problem is still unsolved and will hopefully be resolved by Wednesday :)

I read this really cool article in the New York Times about a guy who traveled the islands tasting the rum in 3 islands, Jamaica, Barbados, and Martinique. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/travel/on-a-caribbean-rum-trail.html?smid=fb-share

It is really well written, as is any other piece in the New York Times, but the part about Barbados is really captivating in the way the writer describes the history of the island and how different it is from what we see as locals. 

It's about that time of day when I can't help but keep thinking about food so I think I'll go fetch me some dinner before I drive myself crazy. Still haven't made it over to the food place my aunt was telling me about, mostly because I spend all morning in bed watching Netflix (right now I'm watching over Brothers & Sisters and I'm still working on House of Cards season 1).

Until next time,

Carla :)

Week 2 & 3 Complete!!

I did it!! Survived another week :) After my snow day came a bunch of homework that i probably should have done over the weekend while I was in Brooklyn. Classes last week were really great and I understood a lot if not everything that was going on :D 

Last Tuesday after the snow day was so incredibly pretty.

There's a park across the street from Pace that I have to learn the name of that was really pretty. And luckily I walk through it every time I go to Staples (my addiction). 

This week we had another snow day on Thursday which was great since I had a test on Valentine's Day. The test went well and he actually let us leave right after instead of having the lecture so I got my laundry done and some reading.

I just finished a book called Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. 

I really and truly LOVE this book. I love how nothing in it is predictable and how the guy is totally honest but still the mysterious type. I'm on the verge of starting the next book Losing Hope but I think I'll wait until Wednesday when I have some laundry to do. 

So a lot has happened since my last post. I changed rooms so I now have a single room (yay!) but it doesn't have a stove (boo!). I am waiting for my hotplate to get here so for now I still have to buy lunch every day :(. So far I've tried Rosella's which is really good for pizza (which I can't have) and pasta. 

I've had the spaghetti and meat balls which is really good and the penne chicken alfredo which was also good but I can never have it again since I'm now apparently full blown lactose intolerant :(. I still want to find a place that sells good rice and chicken. My aunt was telling me about a place to go to at 11:30 to get it fresh but lazy me wakes up at 11 most days so I'll never make it in time.

I have yet to do some real exploring since I'm busy with school and homework. Unpacking everything and buying things I forgot or never had takes up a lot of time. Watching movies in bed also takes up a lot of that time. My next challenge is to find a hairdresser sooner rather than later. I have a list of a couple I want to call and see how they work and stuff so I just might make some calls on Tuesday or Wednesday to make appointments for an interview. 

This is the view from Pace University on the 6th floor :)

Everything is so much prettier in the snow! It snowed again last night so outside today should be pretty again :). Yesterday the unimaginable thing happened. I bundled up and left home to go buy some bottled water but when I came back I was sweating a little!! Like serious feeling hot like I walked around Barbados for 10 minutes. Granted it was only like 2 degrees (Celcius) so it really wasn't that cold. 

Anyways, I have a whole set of reading to do and a bit of cleaning up to get through today. Tomorrow is Presidents' Day so I still have a day to do everything but I really want to get through a couple episodes of House of Cards.

A Bajan (Carla)

I'm Finally at Pace!!

It's finally here!! I moved into my apartment last week and I've had my first week of classes already. My classes are good but I just really want to stay on top of my work. So far I've completed one assignment and right now I'm working on another. My room is kind of small with little storage so it seems to always be a mess. 

Of course everything I bought was pink or purple which is great :). So far living in NYC is pretty cool. Everything is close by and its not so hard to get around. Pace is about 2 blocks away so its not hard to get to class. One great thing about living in NYC as opposed to Barbados is SNOW DAYS!! I'm actually having one right now so I have no classes today which allows me to catch up on all my work and get ahead on some work. So far I've met one new person in my class who seems to want a work buddy so I don't really mind that. 

I've realized that I'm ok with staying in my room with my music and just doing my work. Unfortunately I will probably be getting a roommate soon so I won't have the room to myself anymore. :( 

Anyways, I'll try to take more pictures and post probably weekly so that I actually have a schedule. So far everything is going well even though there was a mad rush to get here on time. I actually got here the day before move in day and then 2 days before classes started so it's been a hectic week.

Time for work!! 

Carla :)